MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County middle school Lady Packer basketball teams won on Monday to advance to the second round of their respective conference tournaments.
The sixth- and seventh-grade team took a 14-0 lead into halftime and cruised to a 27-10 victory over Thomas County Central.
And the eighth-grade girls extended their winning streak to 11 games, defeating Lowndes Middle 44-21.
The eighth-grade game was well in hand for the undefeated and top-seeded Lady Packers pretty early, as they opened up a 21-5 lead over the Vikettes and never looked back.
“We started fast, which is always good,” coach Kim Taylor said. “We knew what we wanted to do and executed the way we expect to. Now, it’s on to round 2.”
The younger team saw six players get into the scoring column, led by D’Kyra Jones with nine points. Ra’Kyja Sumlin, Makairi James, Mea Rodriguez and Caitlyn Spralding contributed four points apiece and Sadie Laurel-Cato scored a basket.
Seventh-grade coach Jon Scroggins also praised the defensive efforts of Makayla Knight, Ruby Demott, Niya Daniels, Laila Myrick and Skyler Jenkins, as well as the ball-handling of Paola Mezquite.
“We got contributions up and down the roster – everybody hustled and played hard on defense,” Scroggins said. “It was great to see. Now, it’s back to work – we have two days to practice and get ready for our rematch with Hahira.”
On Thursday, the youngest Lady Packers will meet Hahira, the team that handed them one of their two conference losses back on November 4.
Scroggins said he believes his team is ready to get some revenge.
“We are a better team today than we were then,” he said. “I’m sure they’ve improved too, so it should be a great game. We are excited.”
Round two of the Southwest Georgia Middle School Athletic Conference tournament will be held on Thursday at the C.A Gray Junior High gymnasium for both Lady Packer teams.
The seventh-grade will play host to Hahira at 4:30 p.m. and the eighth-graders will face Pine Grove immediately after.